Re: 24/7 questions: -- MIDRANGE-L

Bob,

  As you say the EMC connects via SCSI so that limits the speed and
configuration options.  I would expect that the Symetrix looks like a
lot of 9337's.  Other systems will connect differently for sure but most
other systems don't have the DASD management of the AS/400 so boxes like
Symetrix & Shark are big moves forward for thos platforms.

  Shark has the same limitations for AS/400 as you say.  Expect that
some time in the future the Shark will support HSL the new AS/400 High
Speed Link.  This is MUCH faster than the current fiber links the AS/400
uses or Gb Ethernet AND has redundancy as well.

  As to swapping DASD to another system with the Symetrix that makes
sense so long as the systems are close enough. (i.e. the hardware must
be supported by the OS installed on those drives and of course the DASD
much all get connected.)   It's a fair bet that a forray through SST
after this move would show a LOT of hardware that was not reporting in! 
Luckily that all gets handled at IPL time and the system comes up
anyway.  It is VERY likely that you'd need to re-map communication lines
and workstation controllers as well after such a move.

 - Larry

> Our shop just inherited four AS/400 system with NO DASD. All data storage is
> handled by an EMC Symmetrix <sp?> storage system. As you say, it is SCSI
> attached, not LAN, but I understand that other systems are LAN attached to the
> same Symmetrix box.
> 
> I have investigated IBM's Shark SAN, and it as some interesting features, but 
>it
> needs more work for the AS/400 world. If they would support the AS/400's 
>optical
> link, it would be a good start, but a Giga ethernet conection might work.
> 
> One intersting point on the Symmetix. there is no load source on the AS/40s. 
>The
> load source is a virtual drive in the Symmetrix. You can electronically switch
> the virtual DASD from one AS/400 to another, then IPL and the second system 
>will
> be using the same DASD as the first was. They say this works even though the 
>two
> AS/400s are different configurations! That really blows me away. Or confuses 
>me.
> What happens to the mismatches in the configurations? I don't have a clue how
> that is handled. We are just beginning to work on these inherited systems, so 
>we
> don't have all of the information yet.
> Bob


-- 
Larry Bolhuis         |  It's 10PM.
Arbor Solutions, Inc  |  Have you rebooted your NT Server yet today?
(616) 451-2500        |  
(616) 451-2571 -fax   | 
lbolhuis@arbsol.com   |
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